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Center for Generational Studies

  • Elderly people sitting around table smiling.
  • Elderly man and younger woman shaking hands after chess match.
  • Event of generational studies.
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What is the Center for Generational Studies?

The Center for Generational Studies (CGS) is a research center of the University of South Alabama (USA) that was founded in 2011 through a partnership with Via Health Fitness and Enrichment Center. The Via Center is a community-based, multi-purpose center primarily serving older adults with programming that facilitates the practice of preventative healthcare, physical fitness, continuous learning, socialization, and recreation.  As a partner in the CGS, the Via Center partners in  intergenerational programming and research. The CGS has additional valuable partnerships with community-based agencies including the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission – Area Agency on Aging, sponsor of the annual Legacy Leadership Institute that has trained more than 300 seniors as advocates and volunteers and the AHEPA 310 Foundation, creator of the AHEPA Scholarship Program. 

Structurally, faculty in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work lead the Center for Generational Studies with affiliated faculty across departments,  colleges, and universities.

Director, Dr. Roma Stovall Hanks, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Sociology,  Anthropology and Social Work, University of South Alabama.

Associate Director, Dr. Nancy Kelley, Professor of Social Work and BSW Program Director, University of South Alabama.

Generations Faculty Fellows:

  • Dr. Candace Bright Hall-Wurst, Associate Professor, East Tennessee State University
  • Dr. Benjamin Hill, Professor of Psychology, University of South Alabama
  • ;Dr. Lyn Holley, Professor of Gerontology, University of Nebraska Omaha
  • Dr. Andrea Hunt, Professor of Sociology, University of North Alabama
  • Dr. Kern Jackson, Director, African American Studies, University of South Alabama 
  • Dr. Urvashi Jain, Assistant Professor of Economics, Finance and Real Estate, University of South  Alabama
  • Dr. Denise Lewis, Associate Professor Emerita, University of Georgia
  • Dr. Leonard Mundy, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of South Alabama
  • Dr. Laura White, Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, University of Alabama at  Birmingham

Generations Community Fellows:

  • Dorothy Dorton, AARP Associate State Director of Outreach for Lower Alabama
  • Barbara Estes, South Alabama Regional Planning Commission – Area Agency on Aging
  • Barbara Hodnett, Community Health Advocate
  • Frewin Osteen, Director of Supportive Services, Prichard Housing Authority
  • Sarah Wraight, Sociology Adjunct Instructor, PhD Student, Stokes School of Marine and  Environmental Sciences, University of South Alabama

Recent Publications and Professional Activities by Generations Fellows:

Candace Bright Hall-Wurst

Potter, A., Hanna, S.P., Carter, P.L., Eaves, L.E., Cook, M.R., Bright, C.F. (2024). “It takes an emotional toll on all of them:” Considerations for the Ethics of the Technological Deployment of Affect at Museums of Difficult History. In International Handbook on Heritage and Affect. Accepted.

Bagley, B., Anthony, K., Bright, C.F., Reif-Stice, C., Sayre, E., Venette, S., & Beckham, J.  (2023). Controlled chaos: Examining collaborative response to the 2017 Hattiesburg Tornado. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17459435.2023.2271938?af=R

Carter, P. L. & Bright, C. F. (2024). “The Spatial Narratives of Black Manhattan: Tour Guides use of Urban Landscapes to tell Black History.”
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-58033-8_1

Roma Stovall Hanks

RII Track 2 FEC: Building Research Infrastructure and Workforce in Edge AI Lead Principal Investigator: Na Gong, USA Electrical Engineering Investigator and Team IV Co-Leader: Roma Stovall Hanks

Andrea Hunt

Hunt, Andrea. 2023. “The Discourse around AA/NA and Religion in Recovery: A Preliminary Analysis.” Mid-South Sociological Association, New Orleans, LA, October. Fellow, Women’s Policy Institute, Women’s Foundation of Alabama - Project focused on access to pregnancy care in rural Alabama 

Urvashi Jain

Together in Sickness and in Health: Spillover of Physical, Mental, and Cognitive Health among Older English Couples (with Mingming Ma), Health Economics, 2024 7. 

Comparative Analysis of Gender and Age Patterns in Informal Care Received among Disabled Older Adults: A Cross-National Study across the United States, Mexico, China, and Indonesia (with Connor M. Sheehan), Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 2023 6. 

Deep phenotyping and genomic data from a nationally representative study on dementia in India (with Jinkook Lee, et al.), Scientific Data, 2023

Nancy Kelley

Falkowski, P. P., Kelly, C. M., Kelley, N. J. and Banman, A.  (Under Review).  Volunteer impact on nursing home quality measures:  Do volunteers make a difference?

Laura White

Mayer J, Green M, White LW, Lemley T. Perspectives of speech language pathologists and students on providing care to individuals with dementia: A scoping review. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2023;32(5):2351-2373. doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00410

White LW, Jordan K, McDermott H. Assessment of student readiness for clinical education in mixed-mode curriculum delivery: A case study. Qual Assur Educ. 2023;31(1):151-166. doi.org/10.1108/QAE-02-2022-0044

White LW, Dawson N, Saale BP, Lemley T. Physical therapists' and physical therapist students' experiences and views on the provision of physical therapy services to people with dementia: A scoping review. J Geriatr Phys Ther. 2023;46(3):174-182. doi: 10.1519/JPT.0000000000000351

The CGS seeks to build collaborations among Community and University partners to bring a life span and intergenerational focus to research. Faculty members interested in this area of research are encouraged to apply to become Generations Faculty Fellows; students working in these areas of research or programming are encouraged to apply for scholarships and seek recognition as Generations Scholars. Information: generations@southalabama.edu.

Current Research at the CGS (2023-present)

The Center for Generational Studies is currently working with the USA Center for Healthy Communities to develop projects that benefit all generations in communities with high health disparities. Drs. Roma Hanks and former CGS Associate Director Hosik Min recently assisted the Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) in an evaluation of the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program (WIC). MCHD was among the initial five agencies to offer WIC when the program began 50 years ago. Generations Fellows have research interests across the life span.

For more information on research projects, contact us at generations@southalabama.edu or contact the Director, Dr. Hanks, directly at rhanks@southalabama.edu or the Associate Director, Dr. Kelley, at nkelley@southalabama.edu.